a writer on the high wire of life

My Own Personal Best of Sci Fiction (Updated)

For those of you who didn’t regularly read Sci Fiction and are wondering what all the fuss is about, a list of my own personal favorite stories published there with links to them. Read now, as no one seems to know how long the site will be archived. I’m only linking to new stuff; pretty much everything from the classic science fiction series is worth your time. I know I’ll leave out some excellent stories, but here goes nothing. (Oh, and I didn’t read the site consistently from the very, very beginning, so that explains why I’m missing a bunch of excellent stories from the start–I suggest you go browse the archives on your own.)

We are losing something special. Ellen is one of the best editors working right now, period. As far as I’m concerned, the best literary magazine in the world just got shut down. It’s a pretty rare situation that an amazing editor with fantastic, broad taste is able to pay such that she can pick from the best stories being written in the field. It’s time for some billionaire who loves SF to step up and start a new magazine for her to edit.

(p.s. What stories am I missing, peeps? I haven’t read everything, obviously, with Lucius Shephard being a big blindspot.)

Rick Bowes

Thanks for your postings Gwenda. We all knew from the start that this would not go on forever and could end at any moment. Over the years, with each change in ownership, each change in management, everyone would wonder if this was going to be it. Eventually it began to seem as if there was a kind of magic immunity which, of course, there wasn’t. But it was wonderful fun while it lasted.

My response, verbatim:
“One of the greatest honors I ever received in my late writing career came when Ellen Datlow accepted two science articles of mine for the now-defunct online magazine Event Horizon in 1999: you’d understand why this was such an honor only if you saw me devour issues of OMNI when I was in high school. That’s why I hurt when supergee passed on the news that the SCI FI Channel is shutting down Ellen’s SCI FICTION site at the end of the year. Hurt, but sadly not surprised: after all, considering the focus of SCI FI president Bonnie Hammer, why spend money on a literary SF site that does its best to show the heights to which the genre can strive when otherwise cultivating a core audience that collectively wets itself over the possibility of a revival of Lexx?”

Gwenda, Thanks for posting this.
And thanks y’all for your reactions. I don’t really know how long the archives will remain up. I hope at least for a year. In the meantime, I’m busily printing out copies of all the originals. I had copies then eventually tossed them as they took up too much room at home.
The prospect of a SCIFICTION print antho is looking better by the day. Keep watching the skies

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About Me

I’m an author of young adult books. My latest is Girl on a Wire, about a daredevil heroine who discovers magic and mystery lurking beneath the big top. Next up is Lois Lane: Fallout in May 2015. My previous novels include The Woken Gods and Blackwood. It’s possible that I escaped from a classic screwball comedy.

Coming Soon

Lois Lane is starting a new life in Metropolis. An Army brat, Lois has lived all over—and seen all kinds of things. (Some of them defy explanation, like the near-disaster she witnessed in Kansas in the middle of one night.) But now her family is putting down roots in the big city, and Lois is determined to fit in. Stay quiet. Fly straight.

Also Available

Sixteen-year-old Jules Maroni’s dream is to follow in her father’s footsteps as a high-wire walker. When her family is offered a prestigious role in the new Cirque American, it seems that Jules and the Amazing Maronis will finally get the spotlight they deserve. But the presence of the Flying Garcias may derail her plans. For decades, the two rival families have avoided each other as sworn enemies.